Comments on: 3 Writing Exercises of Great Length http://www.writingforward.com/exercises/writing-exercises/writing-exercise-great-length Fri, 19 Mar 2010 02:33:35 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Melissa Donovan http://www.writingforward.com/exercises/writing-exercises/writing-exercise-great-length/comment-page-1#comment-32135 Melissa Donovan Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:35:10 +0000 http://www.writingforward.com/writing-exercises/an-exercise-of-great-length#comment-32135 That's one of the reasons I love writing exercises. You never know what you'll end up with -- maybe a byline ;) That’s one of the reasons I love writing exercises. You never know what you’ll end up with — maybe a byline ;)

]]> By: Kid Brother http://www.writingforward.com/exercises/writing-exercises/writing-exercise-great-length/comment-page-1#comment-32132 Kid Brother Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:21:57 +0000 http://www.writingforward.com/writing-exercises/an-exercise-of-great-length#comment-32132 I know right? Re-reading that I was starting to think that I might have to do something with those sentences. If I do, I'll make sure to send it to you. - Kid .-= Kid Brother´s last blog ..<a href="http://thedigitalscene.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/104_mixtape-mondays-concert-writing-101/" rel="nofollow">104_Mixtape Mondays: Concert Writing 101</a> =-. I know right? Re-reading that I was starting to think that I might have to do something with those sentences. If I do, I’ll make sure to send it to you.

- Kid
Kid Brother´s last blog ..104_Mixtape Mondays: Concert Writing 101 My ComLuv Profile

]]> By: Melissa Donovan http://www.writingforward.com/exercises/writing-exercises/writing-exercise-great-length/comment-page-1#comment-32120 Melissa Donovan Mon, 22 Feb 2010 08:30:19 +0000 http://www.writingforward.com/writing-exercises/an-exercise-of-great-length#comment-32120 Nice job, Kid. I feel like I just read the first paragraph of a novel or short story! Nice job, Kid. I feel like I just read the first paragraph of a novel or short story!

]]> By: Kid Brother http://www.writingforward.com/exercises/writing-exercises/writing-exercise-great-length/comment-page-1#comment-32080 Kid Brother Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:14:50 +0000 http://www.writingforward.com/writing-exercises/an-exercise-of-great-length#comment-32080 Exercise 1: If we decided that we wanted to and looked hard enough through the bedroom windows covered in dust and disappointment, we could see past the burning afternoon sun, past the rusting chainlink that separated our complex from what was meant to be a school, past the patches of overgrown gravel, past the highway where indifferent cars carried indifferent people to more sterile places all the way to the rotting brownstones that held the boys with no words, who talked to themselves in strange glances and sudden flicks of their hands, who showed the gaps in their teeth when they smiled their wide, knowing smiles at those of us who were stupid enough to cross the highway’s lanes. WC: 117 Exercise 2: There are some places we knew not to go. WC: 9 Exercise 3: If we decided that we wanted to and looked hard enough through the bedroom windows covered in dust and disappointment, we could see past the burning afternoon sun, past the rusting chainlink that separated our complex from what was meant to be a school, past the patches of overgrown gravel, past the highway where indifferent cars carried indifferent people to more sterile places all the way to the rotting brownstones that held the boys with no words, who talked to themselves in strange glances and sudden flicks of their hands, who showed the gaps in their teeth when they smiled their wide, knowing smiles at those of us who were stupid enough to cross the highway’s lanes. It was their smiles that haunted us. - Kid .-= Kid Brother´s last blog ..<a href="http://thedigitalscene.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/104_mixtape-mondays-concert-writing-101/" rel="nofollow">104_Mixtape Mondays: Concert Writing 101</a> =-. Exercise 1: If we decided that we wanted to and looked hard enough through the bedroom windows covered in dust and disappointment, we could see past the burning afternoon sun, past the rusting chainlink that separated our complex from what was meant to be a school, past the patches of overgrown gravel, past the highway where indifferent cars carried indifferent people to more sterile places all the way to the rotting brownstones that held the boys with no words, who talked to themselves in strange glances and sudden flicks of their hands, who showed the gaps in their teeth when they smiled their wide, knowing smiles at those of us who were stupid enough to cross the highway’s lanes.
WC: 117

Exercise 2:
There are some places we knew not to go.
WC: 9

Exercise 3:
If we decided that we wanted to and looked hard enough through the bedroom windows covered in dust and disappointment, we could see past the burning afternoon sun, past the rusting chainlink that separated our complex from what was meant to be a school, past the patches of overgrown gravel, past the highway where indifferent cars carried indifferent people to more sterile places all the way to the rotting brownstones that held the boys with no words, who talked to themselves in strange glances and sudden flicks of their hands, who showed the gaps in their teeth when they smiled their wide, knowing smiles at those of us who were stupid enough to cross the highway’s lanes. It was their smiles that haunted us.

- Kid
Kid Brother´s last blog ..104_Mixtape Mondays: Concert Writing 101 My ComLuv Profile

]]> By: Melissa Donovan http://www.writingforward.com/exercises/writing-exercises/writing-exercise-great-length/comment-page-1#comment-31283 Melissa Donovan Wed, 20 Jan 2010 23:06:22 +0000 http://www.writingforward.com/writing-exercises/an-exercise-of-great-length#comment-31283 That's awesome Benop. I think your paragraph illustrates just how easy it is to take a simple, straightforward sentence and drag it out into a long and colorful exposition (or vice versa). Fun to read! That’s awesome Benop. I think your paragraph illustrates just how easy it is to take a simple, straightforward sentence and drag it out into a long and colorful exposition (or vice versa). Fun to read!

]]> By: Benop http://www.writingforward.com/exercises/writing-exercises/writing-exercise-great-length/comment-page-1#comment-31219 Benop Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:22:08 +0000 http://www.writingforward.com/writing-exercises/an-exercise-of-great-length#comment-31219 "The reason for my painful lament is the sordid, callous, sultry fact that while my neighbors, friends, co-workers and family – pets and waitresses and clerks in stores I often frequent included - have all gotten the golden opportunity to race down the grandiose and colorful highway of life in a posh white luxury limousine with platinum rims, minibar, TV-set with Bluray disc player and Xbox 360; I have – along with the rest of the world's all dead beat, pointless and misfortunes of individuals – gotten no more than a rusty, stuttering, oily, tarnished Beetle to help transport me down a barren, dusty, lusterless country road sided by dying condemned buildings, stripped school buses and hollow eyed vultures – this is why I decry it all." Translates to: "I feel very bitter since I've lost out in life." “The reason for my painful lament is the sordid, callous, sultry fact that while my neighbors, friends, co-workers and family – pets and waitresses and clerks in stores I often frequent included – have all gotten the golden opportunity to race down the grandiose and colorful highway of life in a posh white luxury limousine with platinum rims, minibar, TV-set with Bluray disc player and Xbox 360; I have – along with the rest of the world’s all dead beat, pointless and misfortunes of individuals – gotten no more than a rusty, stuttering, oily, tarnished Beetle to help transport me down a barren, dusty, lusterless country road sided by dying condemned buildings, stripped school buses and hollow eyed vultures – this is why I decry it all.”

Translates to:

“I feel very bitter since I’ve lost out in life.”

]]> By: Exercise Four | DanBailey.net http://www.writingforward.com/exercises/writing-exercises/writing-exercise-great-length/comment-page-1#comment-30764 Exercise Four | DanBailey.net Wed, 30 Dec 2009 03:30:07 +0000 http://www.writingforward.com/writing-exercises/an-exercise-of-great-length#comment-30764 [...] Writing Forward. Write one sentence that is at least 100 words long. Then, rewrite that sentence in 10 words or [...] [...] Writing Forward. Write one sentence that is at least 100 words long. Then, rewrite that sentence in 10 words or [...]

]]> By: Wilma Jozwiak http://www.writingforward.com/exercises/writing-exercises/writing-exercise-great-length/comment-page-1#comment-2013 Wilma Jozwiak Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:39:29 +0000 http://www.writingforward.com/writing-exercises/an-exercise-of-great-length#comment-2013 When I first read the challenge, my concern was that writing a sentence that contains 100 words would be not only possible, but unfortunately is probable in the world of academia, where people think in sentences that are actually much longer than 100 words, and in turn "bless" the world at large their colleagues with these word burdened sentences that seem to go on and one forever without adding much to the general well-being of any one or even clearly expressing the initial thought that the individual had spun into this convoluted rat's nest of words that trips lightly off not only their pens but also, sadly for their audience, off their tongues in mind-numbing conversational gambits. Whew! That is about 116 words. That was surprisingly (and scarily) easy - When I first read the challenge, my concern was that writing a sentence that contains 100 words would be not only possible, but unfortunately is probable in the world of academia, where people think in sentences that are actually much longer than 100 words, and in turn “bless” the world at large their colleagues with these word burdened sentences that seem to go on and one forever without adding much to the general well-being of any one or even clearly expressing the initial thought that the individual had spun into this convoluted rat’s nest of words that trips lightly off not only their pens but also, sadly for their audience, off their tongues in mind-numbing conversational gambits.

Whew! That is about 116 words. That was surprisingly (and scarily) easy -

]]> By: Jörel http://www.writingforward.com/exercises/writing-exercises/writing-exercise-great-length/comment-page-1#comment-839 Jörel Tue, 05 Feb 2008 20:30:37 +0000 http://www.writingforward.com/writing-exercises/an-exercise-of-great-length#comment-839 You know, when you feel happy and want to show it to everyone - to your friends, your family and all the ones you meet in the street, men, women, big, small, children and old people - there is always the temptation to put on colourful clothes, sing silly songs, wear funny hats, make jokes and laugh, but watch out my friend and take great care, because even though you might feel that your joy is endless, and that your happiness grows when you share it, it has been scientifically proven that there is not enough joy to go round and that for every single smile you waste on a perfect stranger, you will receive on average two smiles less when you enter your home in the evening, when anyway the colour will have faded from your clothes and your cheeks, your funny hat will have lost its feathers and your voice will be hoarse from singing. Or in ten words... Hm. Don't spread happiness - you might need it yourself. You know, when you feel happy and want to show it to everyone – to your friends, your family and all the ones you meet in the street, men, women, big, small, children and old people – there is always the temptation to put on colourful clothes, sing silly songs, wear funny hats, make jokes and laugh, but watch out my friend and take great care, because even though you might feel that your joy is endless, and that your happiness grows when you share it, it has been scientifically proven that there is not enough joy to go round and that for every single smile you waste on a perfect stranger, you will receive on average two smiles less when you enter your home in the evening, when anyway the colour will have faded from your clothes and your cheeks, your funny hat will have lost its feathers and your voice will be hoarse from singing.

Or in ten words… Hm.

Don’t spread happiness – you might need it yourself.

]]> By: Rebecca Laffar-Smith http://www.writingforward.com/exercises/writing-exercises/writing-exercise-great-length/comment-page-1#comment-834 Rebecca Laffar-Smith Tue, 05 Feb 2008 11:26:24 +0000 http://www.writingforward.com/writing-exercises/an-exercise-of-great-length#comment-834 My seven year old is a pro at sentences that go on and on forever. She's been learning about joining words and uses them all the time now. ;-) Ok, should I try this? I can ramble so it shouldn't be TOO hard, should it? <i>I never did like the way she flung her hair over her right shoulder, turned her hips and wiggled, just slightly, so that her mile high legs flexed beneath a skirt two sizes smaller than her rounded, lissome curves - a plastic surgeon couldn't improve on those and indeed perhaps a plastic surgeon had created them along with her amble cleavage, the perfect curve of her nose, and the even-sided lobes of her ears - then smiled at the boys, who swooned more than the giggling teenage girls watching from a grated window above the boys locker room after sports.</i> This is a perfect example of why you should NEVER try to force too much information into a single sentence. My seven year old is a pro at sentences that go on and on forever. She’s been learning about joining words and uses them all the time now. ;-)

Ok, should I try this? I can ramble so it shouldn’t be TOO hard, should it?

I never did like the way she flung her hair over her right shoulder, turned her hips and wiggled, just slightly, so that her mile high legs flexed beneath a skirt two sizes smaller than her rounded, lissome curves – a plastic surgeon couldn’t improve on those and indeed perhaps a plastic surgeon had created them along with her amble cleavage, the perfect curve of her nose, and the even-sided lobes of her ears – then smiled at the boys, who swooned more than the giggling teenage girls watching from a grated window above the boys locker room after sports.

This is a perfect example of why you should NEVER try to force too much information into a single sentence.

]]> By: Deb http://www.writingforward.com/exercises/writing-exercises/writing-exercise-great-length/comment-page-1#comment-805 Deb Mon, 04 Feb 2008 02:22:59 +0000 http://www.writingforward.com/writing-exercises/an-exercise-of-great-length#comment-805 The other Deb. I think long sentences have been weeded out permanently. I keep hearing these voices from writing classes in the past. Either that or it's one of those "at last" things rather than at once. But everyone else's has been fun to read. The other Deb. I think long sentences have been weeded out permanently. I keep hearing these voices from writing classes in the past. Either that or it’s one of those “at last” things rather than at once. But everyone else’s has been fun to read.

]]> By: Melissa Donovan http://www.writingforward.com/exercises/writing-exercises/writing-exercise-great-length/comment-page-1#comment-799 Melissa Donovan Sun, 03 Feb 2008 06:03:13 +0000 http://www.writingforward.com/writing-exercises/an-exercise-of-great-length#comment-799 @Mark, That is just priceless. LOVE IT!!! @Deb, Well said! @Bill, What a wild scene. Nice job. These are all fantastic! @Mark, That is just priceless. LOVE IT!!!

@Deb, Well said!

@Bill, What a wild scene. Nice job.

These are all fantastic!

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